THE SIMPSONS Introduced Marge’s Secret Aunt and Killed Off a Longtime Character Michael Walsh | usagoldmines.com

On the rare occasions that The Simpsons kills off a longtime character, it’s usually pretty big news. That’s how the animated show’s most recent episode started. It began with Alice Glick’s sudden death. She first appeared in season two when Bart did yard work for her. Her time on the show ended when she dropped dead while playing the piano at church. But her passing wasn’t exactly a big deal in Springfield. It certainly wasn’t the most important development to come out of “Sashes to Sashes.” It was the introduction of Marge’s secret aunt, Beatrice Bouvier (voiced by Carrie Coon) the woman Mayor Joe Quimby betrayed to keep his father happy.

The Simpsons‘ “Sashes to Sashes” revolves around Bart running for School President (as a proxy for Lisa) against Joe Quimby III. When Lisa investigates the Quimby family’s many scandals over the years, she stumbles across a photo of a wedding photo of Joe Quimby, Jr. marrying a woman who is clearly one of Marge’s relatives. It’s clear because little Marge and little Patty and Selma were flower girls.

When Lisa confronts her mom about this secret aunt Beatrice Bouvier, Marge doesn’t want to talk about it. We then see what happened. Joe Quimby, Sr. (nee O’Shaughnessy) fled his poor life/abandoned his family in Ireland as a boy. In America where “No Irish” signs filled every store window, he murdered the local Italian mafia head in a The Godfather II parody. He then took over his business and became rich, but when he wanted to run for political office everyone mocked him. The show then continued to borrow from the Kennedy family’s own history (while using both Brendan and Domhnall Gleeson to voice the Quimby patriarch during different stages of life), as Sr. pushes his son into politics.

The man who would become Springfield’s longtime mayor only won his election thanks to the help of Beatrice. But after their marriage his dad told him he’d have to have many affairs with beautiful women if he ever hoped to attain higher office. Joe, Jr. told Beatrice he’d only pretend to do that to keep his dad happy, but that wasn’t enough for Beatrice who ran off while telling a heartbroken four-year-old Marge that princesses and happy endings don’t exist.

Back in the present, Joe Quimby III barely beats Bart. Only Lisa persuades him to give up the office and break the vicious cycle of the Quimby boys. She then goes to visit her aunt Beatrice in the episode’s best episode. There Marge explains why she’s still hurt by what her aunt, who’s kept up with her family, said to her. The scene also features Carrie Coon doing a perfect Bouvier family voice.

It also seemingly sets up Beatrice to play a role in the Simpson family’s life going forward. If we get a say in that, we vote “yes.” But maybe a future episode can also remember someone else who appeared on this episodes existed. Alice Glick’s death should have been more than just a mechanism to introduce a new character.